of these protests? He hadn’t said a word as far as I know… Are his “protectors” keeping this from him? I’m surprised that he hasn’t made some thinly veiled threat against the protesters… Perhaps I’ve missed something.
While I'm encouraged that the resistance is growing, tonight's news about SCOTUS overruling the Venezuelan refugee deportation stop just struck me like a blow, similar to how I felt when SCOTUS overturned Roe.
I really don't see how we dig out with our country intact. I can see the anger growing, but I can also see some states seceding. This is all now going against the Bill of Rights, it seems to me.
Maybe I'm just tired, but I'm really, really low. If we can muster the opposition against Trump and Congress, but we still have this SCOTUS, what do we do?
I really do believe this is getting close to tyranny.
-For too long, the Right has defined the Left. The Right has been able to dictate the narrative.
-No more. It’s time for us to define them. It time for us to brand them.
-I propose the Republican Party no longer exists.
-I propose we rebrand/redefine/rename them for who they are: they are the MAGA Party.
-MAGA is an authoritarian, oligarchic, and Christian Nationalist party.
-For “moderate” conservatives and right-leaning non-affiliated voters, the Republican Party still carries a veneer of credibility; a long-standing history and some attachment to democratic ideals, institutions, and abidance to the rule of law.
-We must cleave these moderate people away by branding all of them as MAGA.
-If all of us, and all of our thought leaders, political leaders, communicators, influencers, and networkers will stop calling them Republicans and only refer to them as MAGAns, we will be defining them in the negative terms they deserve.
-As Cory Booker said in his filibuster, it’s not about Right and Left. It’s about right and wrong. Most of the country knows that MAGA is wrong. Let’s amplify that. They no longer get credit for being the Party of Lincoln.
-From this day on, the Republican Party only exists in the past.
-Just like Twitter became X, Republicans have become MAGA. The party formerly known as the Republicans…
-They are the MAGA Party. Let us be consistent in calling them out for who they are.
Yes, John, I agree. Bigger and louder so that we support everyone who is willing to speak out even while all but a few of our democratic congressional leadership hide in the bunker.
Well, dear patriots, I think we hit a nerve with our protests. That’s why Trump, who could not abide something that go so much good press, that was so big and beautiful, just had to say that it was fake. On Saturday in N.Y I was one block southbound of where the leading edge of the parade was forming up. When the march started to move, the huge cloth banners were filled with wind and the mass o demonstrated packed tight. It was hard to hold it together. I got into the pack the march when it reached me next to a woman who had so much trouble walking. Wow. What a day.
Take a look at this before we get too excited about “This is what democracy looks like!” This is what the full throated Trump war against citizens and our country is about. We must march on and keep defeat in focus.
I just attended a new training with Field Team 6 called "Please Grow a Spine". It is a social media tool that complements (but does not replace!) calling your Senators and Representative about issues important to you. It currently works on Bluesky, FaceBook, Instagram and Threads, although there was discussion about adding X for GOP electeds. The trainer referred to it as "Mad Libs for social media".
There are templates to ask your elected to (1) Vote Yes on a bill, (2) Vote No a bill, (3) Thank them for something they did, or (4) Urge them to do more. Add in whether it is your senator or representative and whether they are Democrats or Republicans and you have 16 templates from which to select.
FT6 did the legwork for you in terms of creating a profile for each elected with their handles on each platform (if they have an account) so that you are tagging them and they will be notified of your post. FT6 has also created hashtags so the posts are easily amplified. Choose your template, pick the recipient, choose the platform and then fill in a couple of blanks - that's the MadLibs part. It is simple stuff like whether you are a voter or constituent, the bill you want them to vote YES/NO on (OR the Action to thank them for doing or urge them to do), and why it's important to you.
Then you click on a button and it pulls the post together including the graphics,tags and hashtags. You have a chance to edit it to catch any typos or reduce the word count (for BlueSky) and then you click another button to post it.
I'm signed up for a BlueSky training later this week, but I wasn't looking forward to learning how to do all this stuff and might have just limited myself to liking posts and sharing other's content rather than creating my own. But now I feel equipped to doing that with this tool!
Opportunity for reader engagement with Alliance for Retired Americans is sponsoring a virtual phone bank to retirees to mke sure they are aware of DOGE's threat to Social Security. It is every other Thursday 2 - 4 pm EDT. You can sign up here:
I wrote last week about my “law firm” project. I copied the Georgetown Law students’ list of law firms who 1) had bowed down to Trump, to which I wrote grr (critical) postcards or 2) are fighting back to which I wrote thank you notes. A bit into the project, I realized I bit off more than I could chew (or spend on stamps) and started looking for electronic ways to communicate. I also decided to focus my “thank you” project to bigger firms so the task would be manageable.
So…first link below is to GL list with column F added for contact info.
I liked the recounting of the woman who had just had hip surgery. What great courage and tenacity!! I, too, protested the Vietnam war, so that dates me! I capitulated ( didn’t want to admit I need help) and bought a walker with a seat so that I could start protesting again. So glad I did so I could be a participant with thousands of other people here in Albuquerque. What energy in the crowd!
I got a fundraising appeal from the Democratic Party raising money to start a People’s Cabinet. Do you know anything more about the concept and plan? I clicked on it and it just took me to the general Democratic ActBlue page. I think a dedicated fund would be more attractive to those of us who have disappointed in by the party’s fragmented response.
Has anyone seen anything recently about the shopping boycotts? I have asked various places and not seen a response yet?
Annie, yes!
Did you see Jerry's very sad post last week? A truly remarkable person.
Question? Is Trump even aware
of these protests? He hadn’t said a word as far as I know… Are his “protectors” keeping this from him? I’m surprised that he hasn’t made some thinly veiled threat against the protesters… Perhaps I’ve missed something.
While I'm encouraged that the resistance is growing, tonight's news about SCOTUS overruling the Venezuelan refugee deportation stop just struck me like a blow, similar to how I felt when SCOTUS overturned Roe.
I really don't see how we dig out with our country intact. I can see the anger growing, but I can also see some states seceding. This is all now going against the Bill of Rights, it seems to me.
Maybe I'm just tired, but I'm really, really low. If we can muster the opposition against Trump and Congress, but we still have this SCOTUS, what do we do?
I really do believe this is getting close to tyranny.
What do folks think of this idea?
-For too long, the Right has defined the Left. The Right has been able to dictate the narrative.
-No more. It’s time for us to define them. It time for us to brand them.
-I propose the Republican Party no longer exists.
-I propose we rebrand/redefine/rename them for who they are: they are the MAGA Party.
-MAGA is an authoritarian, oligarchic, and Christian Nationalist party.
-For “moderate” conservatives and right-leaning non-affiliated voters, the Republican Party still carries a veneer of credibility; a long-standing history and some attachment to democratic ideals, institutions, and abidance to the rule of law.
-We must cleave these moderate people away by branding all of them as MAGA.
-If all of us, and all of our thought leaders, political leaders, communicators, influencers, and networkers will stop calling them Republicans and only refer to them as MAGAns, we will be defining them in the negative terms they deserve.
-As Cory Booker said in his filibuster, it’s not about Right and Left. It’s about right and wrong. Most of the country knows that MAGA is wrong. Let’s amplify that. They no longer get credit for being the Party of Lincoln.
-From this day on, the Republican Party only exists in the past.
-Just like Twitter became X, Republicans have become MAGA. The party formerly known as the Republicans…
-They are the MAGA Party. Let us be consistent in calling them out for who they are.
Yes, John, I agree. Bigger and louder so that we support everyone who is willing to speak out even while all but a few of our democratic congressional leadership hide in the bunker.
Please forgive my typos. I accidentally hit send as I was making corrections.n
Well, dear patriots, I think we hit a nerve with our protests. That’s why Trump, who could not abide something that go so much good press, that was so big and beautiful, just had to say that it was fake. On Saturday in N.Y I was one block southbound of where the leading edge of the parade was forming up. When the march started to move, the huge cloth banners were filled with wind and the mass o demonstrated packed tight. It was hard to hold it together. I got into the pack the march when it reached me next to a woman who had so much trouble walking. Wow. What a day.
Take a look at this before we get too excited about “This is what democracy looks like!” This is what the full throated Trump war against citizens and our country is about. We must march on and keep defeat in focus.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/07/us/politics/supreme-court-wrongly-deported.html?unlocked_article_code=1.904.U4IR.dGrWkksPWFB0&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
I just attended a new training with Field Team 6 called "Please Grow a Spine". It is a social media tool that complements (but does not replace!) calling your Senators and Representative about issues important to you. It currently works on Bluesky, FaceBook, Instagram and Threads, although there was discussion about adding X for GOP electeds. The trainer referred to it as "Mad Libs for social media".
There are templates to ask your elected to (1) Vote Yes on a bill, (2) Vote No a bill, (3) Thank them for something they did, or (4) Urge them to do more. Add in whether it is your senator or representative and whether they are Democrats or Republicans and you have 16 templates from which to select.
FT6 did the legwork for you in terms of creating a profile for each elected with their handles on each platform (if they have an account) so that you are tagging them and they will be notified of your post. FT6 has also created hashtags so the posts are easily amplified. Choose your template, pick the recipient, choose the platform and then fill in a couple of blanks - that's the MadLibs part. It is simple stuff like whether you are a voter or constituent, the bill you want them to vote YES/NO on (OR the Action to thank them for doing or urge them to do), and why it's important to you.
Then you click on a button and it pulls the post together including the graphics,tags and hashtags. You have a chance to edit it to catch any typos or reduce the word count (for BlueSky) and then you click another button to post it.
I'm signed up for a BlueSky training later this week, but I wasn't looking forward to learning how to do all this stuff and might have just limited myself to liking posts and sharing other's content rather than creating my own. But now I feel equipped to doing that with this tool!
There are other training sessions for Grow a Spine Training which you can find here: https://www.mobilize.us/mobilize/event/772276/
Here's a link to the basic BlueSky training schedule: https://www.mobilize.us/mobilize/event/745677/
Here's a link to the advanced BlueSky training schedule: https://www.mobilize.us/mobilize/event/747440/
Opportunity for reader engagement with Alliance for Retired Americans is sponsoring a virtual phone bank to retirees to mke sure they are aware of DOGE's threat to Social Security. It is every other Thursday 2 - 4 pm EDT. You can sign up here:
https://www.mobilize.us/allianceforretiredamericans/event/773079/?
I wrote last week about my “law firm” project. I copied the Georgetown Law students’ list of law firms who 1) had bowed down to Trump, to which I wrote grr (critical) postcards or 2) are fighting back to which I wrote thank you notes. A bit into the project, I realized I bit off more than I could chew (or spend on stamps) and started looking for electronic ways to communicate. I also decided to focus my “thank you” project to bigger firms so the task would be manageable.
So…first link below is to GL list with column F added for contact info.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Cjv5H_5cFfZmm8QPpWKN17ZDPjDxCmyk9Aja3Riuer0/edit?usp=sharing
And this second list is my 4-up postcard text—first page grr and second page thank you.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YqMLF8AS5PN21KpqZOd6v7dvG-UiTJLgrhm-Y59S7c8/edit?usp=sharing
Feel free to send some correspondence!
I will be there every time we March.
I liked the recounting of the woman who had just had hip surgery. What great courage and tenacity!! I, too, protested the Vietnam war, so that dates me! I capitulated ( didn’t want to admit I need help) and bought a walker with a seat so that I could start protesting again. So glad I did so I could be a participant with thousands of other people here in Albuquerque. What energy in the crowd!
End Citizens United
I got a fundraising appeal from the Democratic Party raising money to start a People’s Cabinet. Do you know anything more about the concept and plan? I clicked on it and it just took me to the general Democratic ActBlue page. I think a dedicated fund would be more attractive to those of us who have disappointed in by the party’s fragmented response.